Immigration Assistance

02 December 2017
09:00 local Bali time

During the temporary closing of Bali Ngurah Rai Airportduring the eruption of Mount Agung, the Director General of Immigration granted extensions to foreigners who, due to the lack of a departing flight, overstayed the period of their original visa.

Agung Sampurno, a spokesman for the Director General of Immigration, said on Tuesday, November 28, 2017: “In connection the eruption of Mount Agung, the Ngurah Rai Immigration Office has been given the authority to grant stay permits to foreign visitors in situations of force majeure allowing extensions until such a time as they are able to depart from international gateways other than Bali.”

During the two days when the airport was closed on Monday and Tuesday, November 27 and 28, 2017, the Bali Airport Immigration Office granted 455 emergency extensions to foreign tourists from 46 countries affected by cancelled flights.

An immigration official said that of the 445 emergency overstay permits granted the largest number of extensions were given to Germans (47), Dutch (45) and Australians (44).

With the reopening of the airport on November 29th the emergency visa extension program was suspended due to availability of flights out of Bali.

The closure of Bali’s airport commenced on Monday, November 27, 2017 at 7:00 am and reopened at 3:00 pm two days later on November 29, 2017.

Fewer Arrivals

The impact of the continuing eruption of Mount Agung was demonstrated by the fact that on December 1, 2017, a total of 5,424 domestic passengers departed Bali while 5,256 domestic passengers arrived on that date. There was, however, less balance among international passengers passing through the airport. On December 1st a total of 14,436 international passengers left Bali while only 4,206 international passengers arrived. In other words, while international flights left Bali full inbound international flights were arriving with very low levels of passengers.

After closing on Monday morning, November 27, 2017, Bali’s airport reopened two days later on November 29th at 3:00 pm.